9.1.4 Suspension of first-instance proceedings following referral to Enlarged Board

Where a decision of the examining division depended entirely on the outcome of proceedings before the Enlarged Board of Appeal on a legal question or point of law raised under Art. 112 EPC 1973 ­ and this was known to the examining division ­ the further examination of the application had to be suspended until the matter had been decided by the Enlarged Board of Appeal. Failure to do so amounted to a substantial procedural violation under R. 67 EPC 1973 (T 166/84, OJ 1984, 489). R. 103(1)(a) EPC now takes up the text of R. 67 EPC 1973, first sentence. See also T 426/00.